From my little hut in Brooklyn, I noticed an incredible amount of wind but almost no rain... Certainly not the 10 inches they were predicting. My gutters, which normally fill up even during a moderate storm, were only half full yesterday morning. Did it get very wet for you?

Well....that little note was sent 28 minutes before the transformer at the 14th St. substation exploded, and the power for lower Manhattan--including me--died. Finally got power back at 4:45am THIS morning.

Good thing the torrential rains didn't occur, because by the time they would have descended, there wasn't any power to run the building sump pumps. We did flood, but very minorly, about 1" and only about 60% of our downstairs. We had already prepared for a worst-case scenario, so everything that could get damaged was already in a safe place. But we baled by hand instead of shop-vac, and with flashlights tied to our beltloops. The enormous surge had pushed up through our area and come up through the basement floor drains, and from there under a shared wall and into our space.

It's been an interesting adventure, a challenge, fun in ways--though it all really began to wear thin toward the end. Most especially when power was back east of Broadway, north of 14th St, and some areas around Canal! We felt like the peasants watching the aristocracy feast inside the castle -- storm the ramparts!!!

The worst part was living with the cold, since we had no heat. Life gets pared to the basics. Some amazing examples all over of community spirit and giving. And how great it was on Wed. afternoon to find a place that had battery powered radios still on the shelves! WNYC became our lifeline. Till then, our son in Reno and daughter in Paris would call us to tell us what was happening in our neighborhood!

FANTASTIC WITH POWER BACK!!!! And we're eating out this evening. A wonderful new restaurant up the street from us--which handed out free food yesterday--has about 60% of its menu in service this evening. I've had it with the efforts of cooking this week, and I'm ready for a break.

And then.....clean out the fridge. And catch up on laundry, including all the dirty towels from the final stage of flood clean-up. And then....catching up with my own work.

And smiling the whole time! Light. Hot water. Heat. People in the streets. Traffic signals that work. Trains coming back.

And it breaks my heart, thinking about all of the people who lost their homes, and those who lost their neighborhoods as well.

Thank you for your update. You are one of the few full-time local NYC residents I know of from TMF.

I had a slight plan in place, but I am centrally located in western Queens and very lucky. I would have never imagined the 14 Street power station blowing up like it did, it was horrific. I am very glad that you and yours are okay.

Talked last night with a friend in NJ who was looking toward Manhattan this past Monday evening at 8, when the 14th street power station blew. She said an enormous flaming red ball shot up into the sky--absolutely terrifying to see! Boy, it was dramatic from that vantage point. For us, the lights flickered then seemed fine. And about 5 minutes later--a moment's flickering and then pouf--total blackness.

Incredible how much money some businesses here lost, because they were food-based. A new--and pretty spectacular--restaurant up the street from us had to throw out $10,000 worth of food! Adding to that what they lost in business and still had to pay in rent, their losses are coming in between $70-80,000. I'm sure there are business that will be forced to fold. And so many homeless souls out there!!!

I used to hang out in that east 14 Street area, I know there are a lot of food and retail businesses. In the last 30 years, the real estate around there has just gone through the roof. I hope some of those businesses can stay in business. One of my cheap eats favorites (haven't been there in two years) is Big Arc Chicken on First Avenue. I hope they will survive. Many other places around there, I can't think of what else is there. And the new restaurants: it takes a good two years from what I hear for a NYC restaurant to be able to really be profitable.

In general though a huge amount of retail business in that area. I recall that all of them had to close after 9/11. There are a huge amount of non-retail (non-food) related businesses. Hope all will be able to recuperate.

In general though a huge amount of retail business in that area. I recall that all of them had to close after 9/11. There are a huge amount of non-retail (non-food) related businesses. Hope all will be able to recuperate.

The area affected is far more than the east 14th St area though. East of Madison Ave, it stretches from 26th St all the way downtown, and west of Madison Ave from 38th St all the way downtown -- so through Chelsea and Greenwich Village, SoHo, Tribeca, NoHo, NoLIta, Little Italy, Chinatown, the financial district, East Village, Alphabet City, Lower East Side....

Many business in the east 14th St neighborhood remained after 9/11, btw. Whenever I walk through that area, I see many of the places I've known for many years.

I hope not many will be forced to close because of Sandy's impact. Today in our area of the Village, most of the food shops were open again, restocked or in the process of restocking. Some places, like our butcher on Bleecker St, had to throw out EVERYTHING and start from scratch.

I hope not many will be forced to close because of Sandy's impact. Today in our area of the Village, most of the food shops were open again, restocked or in the process of restocking.

My office is in the Flat Iron District which was one of the affected Manhattan areas.

I went to the office today and was pleased to see that just about all of the shops, restaurants, etc. in the area that I passed were open for business. I'm certain that many of them will suffer substantial losses but most of them did not suffer water damage and therefore hopefully will be able to sustain such losses and stay open.

The area affected is far more than the east 14th St area though. East of Madison Ave, it stretches from 26th St all the way downtown, and west of Madison Ave from 38th St all the way downtown -- so through Chelsea and Greenwich Village, SoHo, Tribeca, NoHo, NoLIta, Little Italy, Chinatown, the financial district, East Village, Alphabet City, Lower East Side....

Many business in the east 14th St neighborhood remained after 9/11, btw. Whenever I walk through that area, I see many of the places I've known for many years.

I hope not many will be forced to close because of Sandy's impact. Today in our area of the Village, most of the food shops were open again, restocked or in the process of restocking. Some places, like our butcher on Bleecker St, had to throw out EVERYTHING and start from scratch.

Good morning Sheila!

You are quite right, I just focused in that immediate vicinity of the east village. It was one of my favorite areas as it was right near the "L" train. The main news usually summarized that the entire area, east and west, below 34 Street (I did not know the garment district - just north of Chelsea - was also seriously impacted) was hit.

Specific areas of interest were the many federal and courthouses downtown and several law firms and related businesses there. I have been trying to make phone calls on behalf of friends and associates to different businesses and (as of last night), at least half of their phone lines are still not working even though it seems power is back out within the last couple of days.

Yes, after 9/11, most businesses remained in business. I misspoke when I said they closed, I meant only that they were required to be temporarily closed because non-emergency vehicles and related traffic were allowed in the region. I used to see a therapist who had an office in that area and she necessarily cancelled all her appointments, but then volunteered for a few weeks down at Ground Zero.

The current power outage and flooding does impact all food related businesses the most since food is obviously highly fragile and perishable. I know of some additional restaurants or food related businesses that I hope will be able to reopen and reestablish patronage as soon as possible, though I fear the lack of the "L" train will impact their pedestrian traffic significantly. I've heard that in parts of Brooklyn where many neighborhood businesses rely heavily on similar traffic are suffering from the lack of trains (G, L, other).

One of my concerns at this point is how much various delivery services (USPS of course, but also FedEx, UPS, DHL) and businesses with inventory issues (supermarkets and others) and relying on commercial trucking are being impacted by ongoing difficulties in getting gas for vehicles and some traffic avenues possibly still heavily impacted. Yesterday walking to the supermarket, I saw a FedEx truck driving by and I wondered what the fueling capacities are for these large delivery fleets. All this has happened within 8 weeks of the holiday shopping season and wonder how minimal the impact is, at least short term, of online and other orders and deliveries.

My office is in the Flat Iron District which was one of the affected Manhattan areas.

I went to the office today and was pleased to see that just about all of the shops, restaurants, etc. in the area that I passed were open for business. I'm certain that many of them will suffer substantial losses but most of them did not suffer water damage and therefore hopefully will be able to sustain such losses and stay open.

I love that Flat Iron District area, it has changed so much in the last 30 years.

I haven't been to Manhattan (I'm usually in Queens and Brooklyn mostly) in two weeks. There has been a few occasions in which I ordinarily would have gone there, but I'm holding off for probably at least a week because of the limited subway options and resulting congested trains that do go there.

In my residential neighborhood, I've noticed the sharp decline in passenger cars and other vehicles. Traffic is so much clearer even in the morning and evening rush hours. I suspect this might be the reverse in more commercial areas such as Manhattan as I believe more people need to drive to work because of limited mass transit for many. Still it has been a pleasure not hearing the usual honking of horns, loud radios blaring out from cars, and being able to cross the street with little to no waits for traffic to pass.